Rocket directing apparatus



March 5, 1946` R. H. GODDARD ROCKET DIRECTING APPARATUS Fifed Dec. 2, 1939 Munn .w

Patented Mar. 5, 1942` ROCKET DIRECTING APPARATUS Robert H. Goddard, Roswell, N. Mex., assignor of one-half to The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 2, 1939, Serial No. 307,298

3 Claims.

This invention relates to aircraft of the rocket type in which propulsion is produced, at least in part, by a rearwardly discharged blast from a combustion chamber within the craft. Such aircraft are designed for operation' at extremely high altitudes, and both the speed of the craft and the density of the atmosphere vary widely in different parts of a flight.

It is the general object of my present invention to provide improved steering apparatus by which the flight of an aircraft of the rocket type may be effectively directed under widely varying conditions as te speed and atmospheric density.

To the attainment of this object, I provide a set of vanes coacting with the rocket blast and a second set of vanes coacting with the free air through which the craft is traveling. I also provide means for actuating certain vanes in one set simultaneously with certain vanes in the other set to produce a single steering effect, all as will be hereinafter fully described.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view, partly in section, of the rear portion of a rocket craft embodying my improvements; t,

Fig. 2 is a. perspective view of one of the vanes which coact with the lrocket blast;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the vanes which coact with the free air;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a portion of the rocket casing, looking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Fig 1;

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail sectional views, taken along the lines 5 5 and 6-6 respectively in Fig 4;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a supporting element to be described;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of a vane-actuating cylinder; and

Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view to be described.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown a portion of an aircraft of the rocket type comprising a casing C having a readwardly tapered portion C', a combustion chamber I0 mounted within the portion C', and a nozzle Il extending to an opening I2 at the rear end of the portion C' and through which opening the combustion gases are discharged.

I have also shown the usual xed vanes Il.

which are preferably made of thin light-weight material and which may be reenforced at their outer edges by stiilening wires I4, the lower ends the usual type and in themselves form no part of my present invention, which relates particularly to improved apparatus for steering the craft, as will now be described.

This steering apparatus comprises in part a setof blast vanes 20 (Figs. l and 2), preferably made of stainless or heat-resistant sheet steel. Each vane 20 is curved in transverse section, as indicated in Fig. 2, and the lower end of each vane is also upwardly arched, so that the middle portion of the end of the vane will not project too far into the middle portion of the rocket blast, which portion is at very high temperature and travels at extremely high speed.

The width of the vanes is preferably decreased toward the rear, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in order to avoid interference when two adjacent vanes are operated simultaneously in steering. The adjacent vanes may then engage along their side edges and form a substantially continuous surface.

Each vane 20 is mounted on a tapered supporting arm 2| having an offset end portion 22 pivoted at 23 on one of the supporting arms I5 previously described.y The offset end portion 22 is preferably slotted, as indicated at Fig. 2, to embrace its arm I5. 'Ihe vane is thus held more securely in axial alignment and unbalanced forces which might tend to twist the vane sidewise are avoided.

The blast vanes 20 are shown in full lines in Fig. 1 in their normal idle or inoperative position, and one of the vanes 20 is shown in dotted lines in operative position. When in normal position, the vanes 20 extend rearward parallel to the path of travel of the craft and present very slight air resistance.

The vanes 20 are selectively operated by suitable actuating devices. In the present embodiment of my invention, each vane is provided with a pressure-operated device comprising a cylinder 30 (Fig. 8) having a thin metal bellows member 3| mounted therein and secured and tightly sealed thereto at its upper end. A pipe 32 is connected to the closed space between the cylinder 33 and the bellows member 3|. Application of gas or other pressure through the pipe 32 will'obviously compress the bellows member 3 I.

A rod 33 (Fig. 8) is ilxed to the lower end of the member 3| and extends loosely through an opening in the upper end of the cylinder 33. The upper end of the rod 33 is connected through light frame or truss elements 34 and pull rods 33 to a wire 33, the lower end of which is connected through a yoke 31 (Fig. 2) to the arm 2| of an associated vane 23.

When pressure is applied to the pipe 32, the rod 33 and associated parts exert an upward pull on the wire 3B which then tends to advance its vane 23 toward the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1 In -this advanced position, the vane 23 engages the rocket blast at one side thereof, and is thereby rendered effective to exert a directing force on the flight of the craft, as is well understood,

A separate operating cylinder is provided for each vane 23, and the vanes 23 may thus be operated selectively to direct flight in a desired direction, 'I'he selective application of pressure in the pipes 32 may be automatically controlled by a gyroscope or in any other convenient manner, such control apparatus forming no part of my present invention,

The apparatus thus far described will produce a steering effect so long as the rocket blast is in operation but will produce little effect when the,V

' The vanes 43 are normally seated in recesses 44 (Fig. 6), each formed by inwardly depressing a part of the casing portion C. The arms 4i are similarly provided with recesses 45 in which they are nested.

The air vanes 43 are pivoted to the casing edge at 46, and their offset ends 42 extend inward through openings 41 at the upper ends of the recesses 45. Wires 48 are attached to the onset ends 42 of the arms 4| and are operated by pressure cylinders 53, similar in all respects to the cylinders 33 previously described, pressure being applied in each cylinder 53 through a pipe Ii.

I commonly connect the pipe 32 of a blast vane cylinder 33 on one side of the aircraft and the pipe il of an air vane cylinder 53 on the opposite 2 y a,sos,soo

length, so that the air vanes 43 will be swung outward far enough to encounter free air and beyond the stream of rapidly moving air directly associated with the moving aircraft.

It is desirable that all portions exposed to the rocket blast or to the air stream be stream-lined to reduce air resistance. For the same reason, the actuating cylinders 33 and 33 are concealed in the annular space between the casing portion C and the combustionchamber I3 or nozzle Il, as clearly shown in Fig. l.

The arms 22 and 42 are so disposed angularly with respect to their pull wires 33 and 43 that uniform pressure in the cylinders 33 and 33 produces approximately uniform turning moments -of force on the vanes 23 and 43.

If uniform pressure is maintained in the supply pipe 33, the movements of the vanes 23 and 43 will be proportioned to the resistance encountered by the vanes. At low speeds or high altitudes the air vanes will be displaced more easily by uniform pressure than they will be at higher speeds or in denser atmosphere-but greater displacement will be necessary to produce a given steering effect. The movements of the blast vanes will be inverse to the blast pressure.

The two sets of vanes, simultaneously operated, provide very effective steering of the aircraft under varying conditions of flight. When the craft is just starting and is moving slowly, the blast vanes 23 are more effective. .As the speed increases, the air vanes become increasingly operative and steering is accomplished with less inward movement of side of the craft to a common pressure supply pipe 53, so that a selected blast vane 23 and an oppositely disposed air vane 43 can be simultaneously moved to eifect a common steering action. The fact that tension only is applied through the vane-operating wires 36 and 43 permits the cylinders to be located at a considerable distance from the associated vanes. Springs 13 are pro vided for returning the air vanes 43 to inoperative position, but the blast vanes 23 will naturally assume positions parallel to the line of flight when no operating pressure is applied thereto.

The arms 2l are made of substantial length so that the blast vanes 23 will not be located too closely adjacent the outlet of the nozzle il and thus interfere with the discharge of gases therethe blast vanes and with correspondingly less interference with the rocket blast. As the air density decreases at higher altitudes, however, the air vanes become less effective and the action of the blast vanes must again increase. When the rocket blast ceases, however, the loss of further steering effect by the blast vanes must be offset by wider displacement of the air vanes.

My improved steering apparatus thus gives substantially the same directing impulse regardless of the speed of the aircraft, will use most effectively the force that is applied thereto, and will have a minimum of drag or air resistance.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

l. In an aircraft propelled at least in part by a rocket blast discharging rearward from a combustion chamber through a nozzle, steering apparatus comprising a plurality of blast vanes peripherally disposed about said rocket blast and substantially rearward of said nozzle, each vane being mounted on a relatively long and narrow supporting arm pivoted at its forward end to said craft and extending rearward therefrom, each vane being bodily and permanently spaced by said arm substantially rearward from said nozzle and entirely out of engagement with the rocket blast at any time except at a locus substantially spaced rearward from the rear end of said nozzle and thereby avoiding back pressure in said nozzle, and selective means to swing each blast vane angularly from a normal inoperative outward position which is out of the rocket blast to an operative inward position in engagement with the outer portion only of said rocket blast.

2. In an aircraft propelled at least in part by a rocket blast discharging rearward from a combustion chamber through a nozzle, steering apparatus comprising a plurality of blast vanes pefrom, similarly, the arms 4|` are of substantial u rivherally disposed about said rocket blast and substantially rearward oi' said nozzle. each vane being mounted on a relatively long and narrow supporting arm pivoted at its forward end to saidl craft and extending rearward therefrom. each vane being bodily and permanently spaced by said arm substantially rearward from said nozzle' 'engagement with the outer portion only of said rocket blast, said blast vanes being of segmental and frustro-conical contour and being so mountedl and positioned that they engage each other along their adjacent side edges when swung inward but that their rear end edges are substantially spaced from the nozzle axis when the side edges are thusy engaged, whereby a substantial axial opening is" at all times left open for discharge of blast gases.

3. In an aircraft propelled at least in part by a rocket blast. steering apparatus comprising a set of blast vanes, a set of air vanes, separate and selectively controlled pressure-operated actuating devices for each air vane and for each blast vane, a common and constant fluid pressure supply for all of said devices, operative connections between said pressure supply and said separate devices, and means to selectively associate the connections between certain of said separate devices and said common and constant fluid pressure supply so that the operating device of a selected blast vane at one side of the craft and the ope ating device of an oppositely-disposed air vane Vn the other side of the craft are simultaneously made active, and said connections to said constant '.luid pressure supply operating in parallel and not in series and thereby rendering the extent of displacement of each air yvane and of each blast vane independent of any other, with such displacement for each vane inversely proportional to the speed and density of the atmospheric medium engaged by said vane.

ROBERT H. GODDARD. 

